Selected Opec and non-Opec producers to meet again in a bid to improve compliance with cuts as Washington targets Opec member.

July is on track to be the strongest month of the year for oil prices, as crude benchmarks headed to 2-month highs on Monday (31 July), on the prospect of US sanctions on Venezuela and another meeting between selected producers.

At 3:37pm BST, the Brent front-month futures contract was marginally down 0.44% or 23 cents to $52.29 per barrel, having rallied for much of the Asian and European session to as high as $52.92.

Likewise, the West Texas Intermediate remained within touching distance of the psychological $50-level, having briefly traded above the level, before falling back to $49.34, down 0.64% or 37 cents as traders booked profits.

"With fairly modest expectations, the well-managed meeting did appear to support market sentiment. There was no announcement of a steeper production cut, although Saudi Arabia said it would cut exports to 6.6 million bpd in August versus 6.9 million bpd in May (last actual)."

Mihir Kapadia, chief executive officer of Sun Global Investments, said there were signs the current supply and demand situation is healthy and the market is tightening.

"However, this may well turn out to be short-lived as prices above $50 have tended to encourage more US oil drilling, and thus adding to the global supply glut."